HomeGenius GirlfriendChapter 101: The Fourth Paper

Chapter 101: The Fourth Paper

Duan Qiyan’s face turned pale, as if he had seen a ghost in broad daylight.

To avoid talking with Jin Baihui, Duan Qiyan picked up a chopstick full of hot dishes, cradled his bowl, and scooped a mouthful of rice. The spicy and sour soup made his throat itch. He coughed three times, and before he could say a word, Jin Baihui turned and left.

Jin Baihui’s first choice had originally been Tsinghua University’s Yao Class. The Yao Class gathered elite talents with fierce competition, and Jin Baihui unfortunately wasn’t selected. She settled for her second choice, which was how she became Duan Qiyan’s university schoolmate.

Even if Jin Baihui lowered herself to apologize to Duan Qiyan in person, his impression of her wouldn’t improve much. Now that Duan Qiyan had graduated from high school, he naturally wouldn’t hold anything against Jin Baihui anymore. But five years ago that winter, he had been sentenced to death by one of her statements, suffering groundless accusations. In just ten minutes, he experienced difficulty breathing, numbness in both hands, and mild tinnitus… He even had a nightmare—if Lin Zhixia, Jiang Yubai, and Shen Fuxuan weren’t there that noon, who would have believed him? How could he have saved himself?

The answer was unsolvable.

Duan Qiyan sighed, “Forget it, let bygones be bygones.”

Lin Zhixia picked up a pork trotter for him: “Want to try this? The braised pork trotters from this cafeteria are the best on campus.”

Duan Qiyan’s spirits instantly lifted.

While savoring the braised pork trotter that Lin Zhixia had personally served him, he felt Jiang Yubai’s gaze upon him through the screen. He tilted his head and made eye contact with Jiang Yubai.

“You want to eat braised pork trotter too?” Duan Qiyan concluded.

But Jiang Yubai said, “You’re enjoying it very much.” After a pause, he asked: “Is it that delicious?”

Duan Qiyan tapped his bowl with his chopsticks: “Much better than what my parents make.” Mentioning his parents, Duan Qiyan revealed: “Have your parents seen you off abroad yet? My parents took the train home this afternoon…”

As Duan Qiyan spoke, he pulled out his phone from his pocket.

He opened QQ on his phone to send his parents a message, but unexpectedly saw through QQ Space updates that his father had uploaded tourist photos from the Great Wall at four o’clock that afternoon—evidence that his parents hadn’t taken the train home. His parents had left him at school and gone sightseeing without any guilt.

Ah, his family affection was so fragile.

Duan Qiyan ate two large bowls of rice as compensation for himself.

After dinner, Duan Qiyan said goodbye to Lin Zhixia.

The sunset glow faded, and everything dissolved into the night. Looking at Lin Zhixia’s retreating figure, Duan Qiyan recalled various details and commented with feeling: “Lin Zhixia and Jiang Yubai… is there something budding between them?”

“You just noticed?” Tang Tingting responded.

Shen Fuxuan chimed in: “He’s quite slow on the uptake.”

Tang Tingting then asked: “Hey, Jin Baihui apologized to you. Did that make you feel good?”

Duan Qiyan replied irritably: “Which eye of yours saw me feeling good?”

Her reminder made him think of another matter: “You didn’t apologize for touching my thigh today, did you? You’re not as considerate as Jin Baihui. You saw it yourself, even Jin Baihui said sorry to me.”

Tang Tingting completely lost patience: “How annoying are you? I accidentally touched you once, and you’ve complained about it how many times? Boys should act like boys. Don’t wear such short pants when going out. If someone touches you, first look for reasons within yourself. Were you sitting too close to me? How come I didn’t touch Shen Fuxuan, only you? You should reflect on yourself.”

Duan Qiyan frowned: “You take advantage and still have the nerve… That’s not right. You’re even more unreasonable than in middle school.”

Tang Tingting walked away with her head held high, leaving a parting remark: “Fine, go find Jin Baihui then. She’s much more reasonable than I.”

Her light gray long dress fluttered in the evening breeze, and her heeled leather sandals struck the ground with “clack clack” sounds that slowly faded away.

“What’s with her?” Duan Qiyan consulted Shen Fuxuan.

Shen Fuxuan smiled: “I don’t know either.”

“You know everything,” Duan Qiyan exposed him, “you just won’t say.”

Shen Fuxuan put his hands in his pockets, lowered his head slightly, seeming somewhat sad: “How can you see me as that kind of person? This morning, you said I was your best buddy.”

Duan Qiyan quickly changed his tune: “I wasn’t criticizing you, I was complimenting your emotional intelligence…”

Duan Qiyan followed Shen Fuxuan back to the boys’ dormitory.

Compared to Shen Fuxuan, Duan Qiyan adapted to dormitory life more quickly. In less than an hour, he had become familiar with the other two roommates. One roommate asked him who that pretty girl was from earlier in the day. After thinking for a while, he realized: “You mean Lin Zhixia? She was my middle school classmate. I know her quite well.”

The roommate asked further: “Which college is she in?”

Shen Fuxuan suddenly interjected from the side: “She’s a junior this year, applied for early graduation, and will graduate next year to study abroad for her PhD… you can’t catch up to her.”

Duan Qiyan finally understood: “Our homeroom teacher said that science and engineering experts generally don’t pursue master’s degrees unless they’re changing majors. After undergraduate studies, these geniuses either work or pursue PhDs… We just started university, and Lin Zhixia is about to graduate. Has she published any papers?”

Shen Fuxuan’s grandmother was Professor Shen Zhaohua. Shen Zhaohua had maintained contact with Lin Zhixia. Based on this connection, Shen Fuxuan knew a lot of accurate information about Lin Zhixia.

He told Duan Qiyan, “Lin Zhixia has submitted two papers to ‘Physical Review Letters.'”

“‘Physical Review Letters’?” Duan Qiyan sat up, startled, on his bed.

Their roommate said, “Several undergraduates from the Physics Department have had papers accepted by ‘Physical Review Letters.’ The Physics Department is full of geniuses.”

Duan Qiyan corrected him: “Lin Zhixia isn’t in the Physics Department. She’s from our Mathematics Department.”

The roommate’s romantic fantasies instantly vanished, and he merely commented: “She’s not human, is she?”

*

At the same time, Lin Zhixia sneezed.

She was sitting in the library, preparing her application materials. Her paper submitted to “Physical Review Letters” hadn’t been published yet, but she was full of confidence.

The doctoral advisor Lin Zhixia had chosen was a very prestigious professor. She knew this professor was very busy and would probably need some time before responding.

However, after just one day, the professor replied, expressing admiration and affirmation in his words.

Lin Zhixia quickly set a date for the interview with him—there would be two rounds, both conducted online. Lin Zhixia performed exceptionally well, and a postdoctoral researcher in the professor’s group directly told her, “Looking forward to working with you next year.”

In early December that year, Lin Zhixia received two pieces of good news—first, her paper was officially accepted by “Physical Review Letters.” Second, she received her PhD acceptance letter from Cambridge.

Lin Zhixia immediately forwarded the acceptance letter to Jiang Yubai.

At that time, Jiang Yubai was buried in his studies.

With final exams approaching, Jiang Yubai was reviewing diligently, carefully organizing key points. The full score for each exam was 100 points, and anything above 70 was considered excellent. However, the average scores for many courses hovered between 50 and 60, with test questions often far exceeding the teaching scope.

Jiang Yubai’s goal was 80 points.

Lin Zhixia was about to come to Cambridge to study. Although Jiang Yubai couldn’t surpass her academically, he couldn’t appear too ordinary either—just as this thought flashed through his mind, he received a new email.

He saw Lin Zhixia’s doctoral program acceptance letter.

He picked up his phone and sent her a QQ message: “Congratulations on capturing a new planet.”

Before this, they hadn’t mentioned the plot of “Exploring the Universe” for a long time.

With that short message, countless memories flooded into Lin Zhixia’s mind like a tide.

She felt momentarily disoriented, as if elementary school, middle school, and high school were just yesterday. She still remembered the summer vacation in fourth grade, an old-fashioned fan spinning with a creaking sound, lying on a small bed covered with a bamboo mat. The TV in the living room was playing a drama theme song, while she seriously read the “Exploring the Universe” comic series drawn by Jiang Yubai.

In the blink of an eye, many years had passed.

She was about to graduate from university.

So she replied concisely: “I miss you.”

Jiang Yubai was eager to return home.

*

In mid-December, after all exams had concluded, Jiang Yubai’s classmates invited him to stay and celebrate Christmas, but he politely declined. Without much packing, Jiang Yubai flew directly back to Beijing.

He rested at his Beijing home for two days. Then, under the pretext of “bringing you a New Year’s gift,” he invited Lin Zhixia out.

In the frigid December, with gloomy skies and biting cold, Lin Zhixia was very sensitive to cold and reluctant to be outdoors. So Jiang Yubai took her to his home.

It was a quiet and peaceful Saturday. Jiang Yubai’s grandparents were vacationing on Hainan Island, his uncle was rehearsing for a performance at the National Centre for the Performing Arts, and his aunt was doing year-end accounting at her studio—in other words, none of Jiang Yubai’s elders were at home.

Jiang Yubai suggested: “Let’s celebrate Christmas together.”

“But I’ve never celebrated Christmas before,” Lin Zhixia answered.

Jiang Yubai just wanted a holiday that would provide him with a sufficient reason to ensure he could spend time alone with Lin Zhixia. He took out a Christmas dinner menu: “Are you interested in trying these dishes?”

Lin Zhixia glanced at it and saw oyster soup, pan-fried steak, honey-glazed ham, strawberry cake, and persimmon pudding prominently listed. She nodded repeatedly: “Yes, yes, let’s celebrate right away.”

The real meaning of this sentence was—let’s eat right away.

According to the chef’s feedback, the meal would be ready before noon. Now, at nine-thirty in the morning, with three hours until lunch, Jiang Yubai asked Lin Zhixia what she wanted to do. She said, “I want to see your undergraduate life. Did you take photos?”

Jiang Yubai answered: “The photos are on my computer.”

“Where’s your computer?”

“In my bedroom.”

Lin Zhixia urged impatiently: “Take me to your bedroom quickly.”

But Jiang Yubai said, “Wait for me in the study, I’ll bring the computer over.”

Jiang Yubai had his principles and insistence. Up until now, Lin Zhixia and he were still just good friends, so he couldn’t let her enter his bedroom, as that might cross the boundaries of their relationship.

But Lin Zhixia raised a question: “When you visited my home, you played in my room. Why can’t I go to your room… Is there something I shouldn’t see?”

Jiang Yubai’s cat, named “Strawberry,” raised at home and now grown into an adult cat, had eyes like the purest blue sapphires in the world. The cat passed by Lin Zhixia’s feet, meowed once, and Lin Zhixia bent down to pick the cat up into her arms.

Jiang Yubai glanced at the cat, then said softly: “Put the cat down and come with me.”

Lin Zhixia didn’t hesitate at all. She released “Strawberry” and followed him closely, matching his pace.

They took an indoor elevator directly to the third floor.

The elevator doors opened to reveal a deep blue wool carpet on the floor. Jiang Yubai walked silently ahead. He pushed open a door and disappeared into the room. Lin Zhixia stepped in, bumping into his back.

He turned sideways, raising his hand to steady her.

Lin Zhixia looked around: “I’ve seen this place before during our QQ video calls. Your bed has always been so big, enough for five or six people. When you sleep at night… do you roll around on the bed?”

Roll around on the bed?

Jiang Yubai immediately denied it: “No.”

“Then why do you need such a big bed?” Lin Zhixia asked again.

Jiang Yubai casually replied: “Lie down and try it. The space is roomy, which makes it easier to fall asleep.”

Lin Zhixia’s face turned slightly red: “That’s not appropriate…” Jiang Yubai also considered various implications. He started to change the subject: “I printed your new paper, it’s on my desk.”

The room was very warm. Jiang Yubai wasn’t wearing an outer coat, only a thin shirt and pants. But Lin Zhixia was still bundled up. She unbuttoned her down jacket and softly asked him, “Where can I put my clothes?”

Jiang Yubai, whose subconscious was still thinking about his bed, blurted out after hearing Lin Zhixia’s question: “You can put them on the bed.”

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